How to Be Very, Very Popular

"How to Be Very, Very Popular" was anything but upon its release, and has not gained any stature since. In fact, its reputation has actually grown worse. It's infamous as the picture that Marilyn Monroe refused to do, leading to her celebrated walk-out on Fox. Sheree North, a practically unknown dancer-starlet, was quickly put into the role, coiffed and made up to look almost exactly like MM. The film, needless to say, bombed, and Sheree--strong armed into being a virtual Monroe clone--bore the brunt of most of it. Betty Grable (MM's co-star from "How to Marry a Millionaire") took advantage of the film's lack of success and used it as her chance to retire from the grind. In retrospect, the film really isn't all that bad--although it's obvious why Monroe balked at playing the North role; it's little more than window-dressing. Actually, had North been given the role from the get-go, and not encouraged to look and sound EXACTLY like a carbon copy MM, the picture might've been pulled off as a cute, harmless little comedy. The film was clearly a step down for a superstar of Monroe's stature, but could've been a nice, showy stepping stone for a rising starlet. Grable is her usual warm, bright self, but she's getting a bit old to be playing scantily-clad chorines. Next to the very young North, especially, she looks decidedly matronly. North isn't given much to work with (again, it's hard to comment on a performance which was basically conceived as a blurred copy of an original), but she does get to do a splendid, wild, rock and roll dance to "Shake, Rattle & Roll." Sadly, the film's complete failure relegated the promising North to the back burner; and she had much more musical and dramatic talent than Jayne Mansfield, whom Fox began to build up instead. So, if "How to Be Very, Very Popular" should show up on television one afternoon, sit back and enjoy it. It may not be great cinema, but it's an underrated little slice of mindless entertainment.

The film starts off as if I was seeing "Some Like it Hot" years before. Two strip-tease dancers witness the shooting death of a Chinese stripper on stage and are pursued by police and the killer alike. Sounds funny and promising but the film soon falls into a trap of utter stupidity.

Bette Grable (too old for the part) and Sheree North are the two fleeing strippers who wind up in a college dormitory and cause mayhem there. North is accidentally hypnotized by Tommy Noonan and spends much of the picture in a hypnotic state. How fortunate for her.

There are two really good performances here by Charles Coburn, as the college dean, more interested in the college getting money than actually providing education and Alice Pearce, as a wacky housemother in the school.

Fred Clark, as the millionaire father, who doesn't know that his son, Orson Bean, has been expelled is given the part of the guy getting hit over the head as he is confused with the killer. Rhys Williams gets the same treatment as North's father.

Bette Grable plays Stormy Tornado. Stormy? This storm blew out to sea. Big-time.

Stormy Tornado (Betty Grable) and Curly Flag (Sheree North) are a team of "interpretative dancers" (not "belly dancers" as incorrectly identified by a previous user comment) who witness the murder of Miss Cherry Blossom Wang and are the run from her killer. They pool their money to get on a bus and wind up in College City, still dressed in their stage costumes. They wind up in an all-boys college dorm and the film ensues with a series of not very funny events because of their situation, their lack of dress and Curly being accidentally hypnotized. This is one of Sheree North's first "big" roles (she was offered the part that Marilyn Monroe turned down, and at the time was viewed by Fox as their new "blonde" to replace their unwilling star Marilyn Monroe, who wanted more substantial roles). She delivers a very wooden performance. Betty Grable, on the other hand, made this her last film for Fox. While she delivers a typical sassy performance, she can not float the rest of the cast which is struggling with a really poorly written script. Orson Bean couldn't act his way out of a bag in this film. Tommy Noonan (Eddie) and Robert Cummings (Wedgewood) also deliver a zinger or two, but the film is really uneventful. A film only for die-hard fans of Grable or North.

Unlike the others who have commented on this film, I really enjoyed it. It is on my personal top-10 list of comedies. I like the fact that the two female stars (Grable and North) do not spend the whole movie prancing around in their skimpy dancing costumes--this is a comedy, not soft-core porn! I especially enjoyed the performance by Mr Coburn, who played the president of the college. His scenes, especially the one where he all-but-ignores the beautiful girl (North) on his lap while he fondly recalls an amorous episode from his own student days, make the movie for me. I did not know anything (before reading it here) about the Marilyn Monroe connection to this film, but I am glad she did not appear in it, as I have always thought her over-rated, both as a beauty queen and as an actress. Miss North was far better for the part. It has been at least 10 years since I last saw this, but I still remember much of it, and would gladly watch it again.

Betty grable, and what appears to be a marilyn monroe knockoff, sheree north. Two beautiful women, at a college graduation, hiding out from a mob boss. It's all pretty silly. The awesome charles coburn is doctor tweed, and fred clark is in here as marshall. Alice pearce (from bewitched!) is in here as miss sylvester. Bob cummings is the college student who doesn't seem to really belong there. The girls kind of hide out with the college students, some silly sub-plots. The story lines are way over the top, but it's good to see grable and clark in their roles. Sadly, alice pearce will die so young at 48 from cancer. Apparently, the real m. Monroe refused to take part in this film, and this was also the last film role for grable; she, monroe, and fred clark had just made how to marry a millionaire. It's fun, but goofy. So goofy, they hardly ever show this one. One of the films where north allegedly filled in for a marilyn monroe.